Alexandra NowakowskiDomingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program

A native of Chicago, Illinois, Polish-American soprano Alexandra Nowakowski joins Washington National Opera’s Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program for WNO’s 2018–2019 season. She will perform the roles of The Unicorn and Weaver (The Lion, the Unicorn, and Me), and she will also be a soloist in WNO’s “A Concert of Comic Masterpieces.” This summer, she will sing Gilda (Rigoletto) at the Verbier Festival, and later in 2019 she will be the Soprano soloist in the Mozart Requiem with the Columbus Symphony. Nowakowski is a graduate of the Academy of Vocal Arts where her roles included Zerbinetta/Najade (Ariadne auf Naxos), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Lucia (Lucia di Lammermoor), Gilda (Rigoletto), Sophie (Werther), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), and Musetta (La bohème). She has been a soloist with The Philadelphia Orchestra under the baton of Stéphane Denève and the Bach Society Houston for the Bach B Minor Mass. She was the recipient of First Prize from the Gerda Lissner Foundation Competition, First Prize in the 2018 Vocal Arts D.C. Art Song Discovery Competition, First Prize from the Violetta DuPont Competition, First Prize from the American Council for Polish Culture's Marcella Sembrich Voice Competition, and Second Prize from the Gerda Lissner Lieder/Song Competition. Nowakowski holds a bachelor’s degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.